Native Gardening for Birds Seminar

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Join us at our Windmill Lane (Ottawa East) location and meet Hugh Metcalfe from Naturaide Landscaping! 

"Naturaide provides ecological and agricultural services within eastern Ontario, all of which help to protect sensitive environmental features and encourage good land stewardship."

Naturaide has been owned and operated by, Hugh Metcalfe, since January 2020 and a lifelong naturalist and passionate about nature and its protection.

Hugh is a 2006 Fleming College—Frost Campus graduate from the Fish & Wildlife Technician program. He's been fortunate to work on several avian research projects for graduate students across Canada and the United States.

Seminar Outline

• Birds are attracted to your property when food, shelter and a water source are provided/accessible
• Birds stay on your property when these three elements include native plants that host a variety of insect species (i.e. host plants)
• Host plants are native species that feed larval or adult insects, which are in turn fed on by birds
• Trees and shrubs not only provide an early source of pollen and nectar for pollinators and certain bird species, they also host the largest numbers and diversity of insects
• Oak, willow, cherry are the top three host species for insects and combined support hundreds of insect
   species
• Specialist relationships form between some bird species, especially early in the season
• The Yellow-bellied sapsucker creates sap wells in maples, basswood and other tree species that hummingbirds drink from before our spring flowers like columbine and honeysuckle are blooming
• Baltimore Oriole prefer canopy species like oak and elm to create their distinctive nests, tree species that are at risk from various insect pests and disease
•  Including as many host plants on your property as possible benefits the widest variety of bird species
• Create opportunities for cavity-nesting species like chickadees and woodpeckers using snags (when safe) and nest boxes
• Don’t forget to encourage/plant our native grasses and sedges on your property, as they offer shelter, refuge for ground-nesting birds and can be host plants for insects

Creating native plant havens for wildlife!
www.naturaide.ca